Pages

Sunday, 14 August 2016

Rottpugs

Because what the world needs right now is a brachycephalic Rottweiler. :-(

These Rottweilers are from a top Serbian Kennel owned by Darko Veselic. This picture on his Facebook page has prompted a torrent of comments from all over the world - with much of the criticism raising concern about introducing breathing problems into the breed.

And, of course, these dogs' heads are asking for trouble - domed, with an exaggerated stop, and a crania-facial ratio (CFR) of under 0.5 (i.e. the muzzle is less than half the length of the cranium). It is below 0.5 that we start to see respiratory issues. They do, at least, have good open nostrils.

Their breeder Darko Veselic is a charming chap. After one female commenter on his Facebook page criticised his dogs, he came back with this - which was then endorsed by several women. They should be ashamed of themselves.

But I want to leave you with this thought.

There are dozens of breeds with far shorter muzzles than these Rottweilers and it causes little or no outrage. I'm sure that many of the critics on Darko Vesilsc's page will pass a Pug or a Frenchie with a smile and may even have short-faced dogs in their own homes.

It's a shock when you see a dog that normally has a decent muzzle suddenly robbed of it, isn't it? But sadly, most of us do not have the same visceral response when we see this.

But we should. It makes absolutely no difference to the dog if it was acquired over 100s of years or just a few.

30 comments:

It is interesting to me that defenders of the deformed virtually never have anything intelligent to add to the discussion and almost always take the debate into the gutter with personal attacks and profanity.

Staffies are already brachycephalic (not as severely as a pug but still). I've already seen Staffies with muzzles as short as some french bulldogs.

Labs are next I agree - they've already been turned into heavy boned lumps of lard to the point that they galumph instead of run, the next logical step is to remove their ability to breathe or cool themselves.

Don't worry, the working lines will always remain with enough of a nose to do their job, so there will always be members of these breeds with good athleticism :)

I think that instead of trying to preserve purebred dogs, we should be trying to preserve working dogs. They generally have good health, a structure free from exaggeration, good drive and history which actually would be a shame to loose, and breeding for work maintains the original appearance of the breed much better than the showring.

I think if he adds long coat they will look exactly like oversized CKCS. Maybe his lofty ambition is to breed the first ever mastiffoid strain with Chiari-like malformations and CM. Otherwise his comments show the typical sub-zero IQ of this ilk of greeders.

Military still use real GSD too (those without the sloped back and messed up legs). Give all dog breeds a purpose and breed them for it - I think health and temperament would improve (and they'd look a lot nicer too, nothing more beautiful than a form that is fit for function).

The thought strikes us that we are preaching to the converted (particularly the FB page). What we need is an Amnesty International style letter writing campaign with guidance from this group to dog clubs, Kennel clubs and parliamentarians as well as a more concerted push to consumers (probably via press release). Any thoughts on a unified course of action? We may be able to place media, but would prefer that it was largely unified world wide. Maybe taking a tactical leaf out of the animal activists' book?

Quit agree. It is horrifying to think that in a few years time this situation might be resembling the current debate about GSDs - i.e. how could this be allowed to happen? We need to act now and stop it going any further.

This is a current fashion trend in Rottweilers at the moment and will pass no serious breeders are using these lines or breeding to these extremes . The ADRK have already brought in measures to ensure dogs of this extreme type are not rewarded at the major shows . In fact the majority of these dogs being bred are bound for Asia North Africa & China so will not impact on the mainstream reeding population 18 months from now we will be complaining about something else

Unfortunately Rex is being used as a stud almost everywhere I look now. USA Breeders are using him already and bragging about him "It's a great combination of bloodlines known to have and produce massive heads, short muzzle, high forehead, big bone structure, strong drive and sound temperament" says one breeder. I for one would love to see him even run around a show ring for 15 minutes and not collapse and he has no change of completing a endurance test. There is another litter due in South Africa. I have lost count of how many litters this dog has sired.It doesn't matter if the ADRK won't reward them at major shows or not,the USA is not a member and do not enter ADRK shows because most of them still tail dock.

If you do not think this is a head type and change in the breed standard that you want in the bloodline of Rottweilers you can tell the man who owns them. He seems unaware that many of us do not find this dog an acceptable Rottweiler standard for the breed. I had the courage and decency to tell him directly that this dog was not conformation and was spoiling the excellence of his kennel and bloodline. He laughed at me, said "oh yes that is why all the world loves Rex". Well, no not all of us. "Veselic Darko Timit TorAugust 6 at 6:07pm ·NEW MATING06.08.2016REX "TIMIT-TOR" x OLIMPIA "TIMIT-TOR"Owner. Kennel "TIMIT-TOR"

unfortunately...he has been able to title that dog...and because of that, people are wanting to breed to it. The Rottweiler head it getting very overdone...and ugly. It is sad to such a wonderful breed being destroyed by those who think they know it all...

Yes, absolutely I've noticed this in the show Rottweiler over the years, even so called moderate dogs have a deformed head. I used to call it "the budgie look" but its far worse of course.

I have to say these dogs look completely and utterly ridiculous. There is no power in the muzzle, its pinched and weird compared to the bulging width of the skull.....just all too horrible, like a frog that's been "image warped" in photo shop.

The worst issue is of course the health problems associated with brachycephaly. Intentionally breeding for this is horribly misguided. I honestly cannot believe they got their dogs titled, a complete mystery, they don't even look like rottweilers. In profile at least they look more and more like giant Cavalier King Charles spaniels and look what happened there!

Extremes extremes, how come no one notices how breeds drift into this mess until the damage is done. I wonder if people get into breeds accepting the extremes as normal because they simply just don't know anymore what the breed should look like.

It just gets worse and worse. The show ring is definately not the place to improve a breed, its the place to ruin a breed.

What absolute bull!! Leave these beautiful rotties as they are! Ehy do you want them to look like pugs? You bloody morons I've owned rotties over 35 years and I would t any now because of the messing with genetics and tail docking!!!

What an ugly dog. Short nose, terrible oversized body with no noticeable tuck, ribs that are far too oversized, wrinkles on the nose, loose lower lips, a very large, mastiff-like head, short legs, and is already not doing great in the heat.

Is this really what people like?And here the show people like to tell me that they are moving away from exaggeration. What a joke.

SUBSCRIBE TO PDE - THE BLOG

Search This Blog

About Me

I grew up with pedigree dogs - English Setters, Great Danes, Labradors and, most recently, Flatcoated Retrievers. Today, I share my home with an assortment of dogs, purebred and mutts. In 2008, I directed Pedigree Dogs Exposed, a BBC documentary which uncovered the extent of health and welfare problems in pedigree dogs. The film has now been shown in more than 20 countries. Campaigning for improved purebred dog health is now a great passion - one fuelled by the fear that those who currently view themselves as the guardians of pedigree dogs are, often unwittingly, the agents of their demise.
My mission, then, is to continue to highlight where things have gone wrong and to encourage breeders and Kennel Clubs to embrace reform - particularly when it comes to harmful phenotypes and inbreeding.